Tag Archives: NYC Transit

The MTA will redirect five city bus routes from St. George’s Episcopal Church after local leaders and parishioners complained about idling buses and its drivers who relieve themselves on the side of the church.

“What was happening to our beautiful church was devastating,” said Assemblymember Ron Kim. “It’s very sad that when their congregation meets every week, they have to walk through all that pollution and smell.”

Drivers use the streets adjacent to the landmark church at 135-32 38th Ave. as a bus depot, Kim said, contaminating the block with noise, pollution and even urine at night.

Serving Flushing since 1702, the church is the only one in the city to be surrounded on three sides by city buses, said Kim and St. George’s Reverend Wilfredo Benitez.

“These buses have been a hardship on this parish for too long,” Benitez wrote to the MTA in February.

But come September, no city bus will travel along or stop on 38th Avenue, between Main and Prince streets, the MTA said.

The heavily-used Q17 and Q27, which currently have layovers there, will instead rest on 138th Street, between 39th and 37th avenues. And the Q19, Q50 and Q66 will idle near the municipal parking lot on 39th Avenue.

“The community requested the MTA study how to decrease the number of buses stopping near the church,” said MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz. “This reroute of Q17 and Q27 accomplishes that with minimal inconvenience to customers.”

Local leaders praised the adjustments but said they need to come sooner. Benitez also wants the Q20A, Q20B and Q44’s stops moved away from the front of the church.

“Waiting until Septembers means another summer of bus drivers urinating on the side of our buildings and the summer heat festering the stench,” he said. “All the other hardships already enumerated to the MTA in the past will remain in effect until then.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo’s announced at his Hurricane Sandy news conference Sunday morning that the MTA will suspend subway and bus service beginning Sunday evening at 7 p.m. Bridges and tunnels will also be closed if winds reach 60 mph, while JFK and LaGuardia airports will currently remain open.

The governor advised this will be a serious storm and everyone should be cautious and plan accordingly.

An MTA pilot program that removed trash cans from two subway stations — one in Queens and one in Manhattan — to help alleviate garbage problems such as rodents and track fires has been extended to eight more stations.

Last fall, trash cans were removed from the Flushing-Main Street No. 7 line and Manhattan 8th Street “R” line stations. After positive results from those two locations, the MTA decided to add two stations each in Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan to the pilot for six more months, starting on September 2.

In Queens, these include the “A” line’s 111th Street stop and the 65th Street station of the “M/R” line.

According to the transit agency, the cans removed last year reduced the number of trash bags by 67 percent at Main Street and 50 percent at 8th Street. Also, the stations were cleaner and there wasn’t an increase in track fires.

“After removing the trash cans at the initial pilot stations, customers for the most part took their trash with them,” said MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz.

Commuters heading to work and the free papers handed out at subway stops may be a large part of the trash, according to a 2008 analysis of about 75,000 pounds of subway station garbage, which showed that the most common item thrown out at subway stations was newspapers, at 44 percent.

Though trash is an issue, a 2011 Straphangers Campaign subway platform survey found that garbage was not the biggest problem at subway stations. Observing 250 subway platforms, surveyors only saw one overflowing trash can and 15 garbage bags; rats were found on 11 percent of platforms. Problems such as broken lighting fixtures, substantial water damage and peeling paint were found at 50 to 79 percent of platforms.